Kenyan student medics support striking doctors

By Magdalene Mukami

NAIROBI, Kenya (AA) - More than 800 medical students on Thursday held protests in Nairobi in support of a nationwide strike by doctors that has lasted for more than six weeks.

Dressed in scrubs and lab coats, the students brought traffic to a standstill on major roads leading into the capital.

“Today we are joined by medical students from across the country to send a message to the government that, as medical students, we are tired of what they are doing,” Ahmed Dekow, chairman of the University of Nairobi’s Association of Medical Students, said.

“We don’t have patients and we don’t have consultants. Our training has been affected by the strike. The easiest way to solve this is to pay the doctors.”

Doctors are demanding a 300 percent pay rise under a collective bargaining agreement to take the salary of the lowest paid doctors to the equivalent of around $3,300.

The strike has seen the most urgent medical cases treated in expensive private hospitals and medical students have been called on to provide care.